"The couch?? But the- what would I be doing up there? I don't. I don't remember going in the couch..." my eyebrows cringed together, a small dent forming in the center of my head. Scrunching them up was making my headache even worse now, and the fact that I was struggling to remember what happened was certainly no help. With a deep, annoyed moan I rubbed the back of my head, staring out into space.
"Where was I? Where, where where....what was I?" my eyes pondered in the distance. There was a miniature block made of wood, turned on its side against the wall a few steps ahead. It had a metal clamp on its underneath. Frails of the purple curtain nearby blew against it.
I continued looking carefully at it. One thing was for sure, I knew that was a rat trap. But what was a rat trap doing?..
Then, it came.
The memories. The past. It all rushed back to me.
I remembered how drastically I was looking for Cheesy. I remember finding him, in that corner. I remember how the metal clamp was crashing down on his head, just moments before I approached him. And now my body was remembering too. My arms felt numb from how much I strained from pulling his heavy ass off of the damned trap....
Then, I felt it. A warmness. A rage. A burning fire moving its way from deep within my gut. It moved to the top of my head and blasted my face, going back down to my chest. The heat permeated in my throat, and it felt as if so many words were stuck in there that my throat canal was about to burst open. Glimpsing at Cheesy's hand on my shoulder, a curse escaped from my breath, I grabbed his hand and flung it off, springing up just as quickly as I had fallen.
'' What in rodent damnation is wrong with you!!! Are you brainless????" I hollered; Chessy's eyes bulged open as I screamed at the top of my chest.
"Brother I_"
"Brother nothing!!! How the hell would I explain you not coming home to Mother?? Or to Sharp?? What would I tell them???" I rose my hand to the ceiling, my eyes piercing at him for an answer. Cheesy looked down to the floor racked with guilt, not being able to face me for his foolishness.
''I was just going to bite a tiny pinch brother. It was not a big one. I would've dragged my head out in time...''
"Tiny pinch my furry, white behind!!! You wouldn't have gotten past it without the damned contraption snapping your neck in two!! Then you have the nerve to lie to me like I'm some kind of idiot. Why the hell would I go in the couch??? Lest you could have done was come up with a better lie" the furs on my back were straighter than pins, my nostrils flared as I imaged Cheesy's neck nudged between the metal clamps.
"A foolish thing, the most foolish thing you've ever done in your entire liiifeee!!!" at this point I could hear the anger in myself, my voice belted throughout the room. Throwing my fists in the air like I was fist fighting an invisible demon, I turned on my heal and began treading towards Cheesy.
With ears flopped down, and whiskers lowered, Cheesy shuffled about with his tail in his hand; eyes swelling open when he saw how rapidly I was approaching him. A wide, wordless mouth was blocked by open palms as he held them up, shielding himself from what he thought was going to be a hit.
'' Drats dammit Cheesy by the love of everything meant to destroy us rodents already!! I wish you would just open your eyes and-an an...tthink!!! Think without using that damned ballon gut of yours!! Everything isn't about food!!Life isn't all about pleasures, you have to be smart!!!' I barked at him, so close to him that the spit flying from my mouth would've fallen into his face had he not been covering himself.
"Sheesh!!" I grunted.
My throat was unforgivably dry and scorched now, having endured all the damage from yelling furiously. I don't think I had ever shouted like that before. I'm sure Mother and Sharp heard me, but I didn't care. It was time for Cheesy to open his eyes to his own folly.
This was ridiculous. Cheesy, Sharp and I had been preached to too many times from Mother about these things. Mother would always say:
"Your Aunt Helda got her head snapped off by those traps!!! Don't touch it, go close to it, or even breath in its direction. If that clamp comes down on you, you're a dead rodent!"
Over and over again, second after second, day by day she warned us. And every time she did warn us about anything, me and Sharp made sure to stay on our toes.
But never Cheesy. He was the exception to the rule.
He was the baby. 'Mommy's pure little pumpkin. Her sweet, soft, fragile rose"
Well, in this world roses get trampled on!!! I was sick of Cheesy harboring his disillusioned sense of safety. Did he seriously think that as long as Sharp and I were there to watch over and protect him, he would just skate on by, easily flowing through life? That's not how this worked.
He needed to stand on his own two feet. To be able to protect himself from the dangers of a hard, sickened world filled with bloody mouthed, ravenous, fanged enemies. I wouldn't always be there to protect him, and he was becoming a burden to everyone, including himself.
Cheesy was fat, mistake prone, and a burden. Nothing but a walking, talking burden.
I was livid. Cross. Angry.
It was one thing being trapped in a huge prison, but it was another being trapped in said prison, with idiots. Chessy's incompetence was doubled with his greed; Mother 's unbearable "love" was constricting and tiresome. Sharp was an impulsive, loose tongued jackass. I was surrounded by halfwits. I had to get out of here. Sooner, than later... by any means necessary.
Folding my lips and entwining my fingers together, I pressed my clasped hands against my tender head, shutting my eyes and getting on my knees. I had gotten so angry, that all the energy in me had dissipated. I had nothing left in me. I stood in that position on the floor, frozen there for quite some time. In complete silence.
Cheesy stood there, fidgeting. He looked left, he looked right. All the while holding on, not knowing what to do.
For the first time in the day, there were no words. For once. I could hear nothing but my own breathing. There were no thoughts. No noise. No bickerings about how I was walking too fast. No complaints about hurt feet. No narrow death stories of relatives being chased, killed, and eaten by vicious creatures. No bragging about how they could be taken down. Nothing.
It was just me, and the silence. Until Cheesy opened his mouth again....
''But brother Burrow....please if you would allow me to say something?? umm.." he hesitated.
" I know I took a huge risk in grabbing that cheese but- everything turned out to be fine! I didn't want you to be the only one to carry food home. Now, we have more food to carry home to Mother and Sharp, and I have my neck still thanks to you!! Isn't that great. I can share a half-"he stopped and rubbed his chin, being in contemplation of what he was about to say.
"I can share a third of my cheese with the rest of you all. All thanks to you Brother Burrow!" he smiled, coming towards me with his arms outstretched. At that point I was even more upset, like someone had flicked a switch in me that had set something off. A rush of heat soared through my body, I marched over to Cheesy and grabbed his fur by his chest, shaking him.
"So you were willing to lose your life and break your spine over some- some Cheese??? What if I hadn't come by in time to catch you??? Didn't I tell you to stay by the entrance and look out for me??" I asked, Cheesy mouthing words but not saying anything.
"I- brother" I shoved him off, pushing him to the ground. He fell and stumbled over, falling flat on the floor. He held his chest, peering up at me with a glint of water in his eyes.
"Oh don't even start it with the crying. I don't give a damn.' I said, turning my head away and folding my arms. I went back to the bag I had rested on the floor and picked it up, placing the handle around my shoulder and beginning to make my way back across the floor to meet Mother and Sharp. They had to be finished by now. I stopped, realizing that Cheesy was not trotting behind me. I turned around, coming up to his face with my finger pointed yet again.
"You tell Mother none of what happened here you understand me? Me getting knocked out, you almost being killed on a rat trap, nothing!!!This stays here and dies at this very spot. Capiche???"
"Ye-yes. I promise. I won't say anything" He strutted.
"Good. If she were to find out about this, she'd never let us out the peephole again. Now get up and let's go! The third whistle rung out already, and we're late. When we get there, I'll deal with the talking and explanations to Mother. You just keep quiet." I hollered behind me. He got up and came clumsily forward. We walked back in silence.
........................................